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A federal judge in Arizona recently declared a mistrial in the jury trial of Backpage founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin, who were charged with prostitution and money laundering. While the judge had initially ruled that prosecutors and witnesses could mention that the site was used for sex trafficking, they were prohibited from sharing specific details of that abuse. The judge declared a mistrial after the prosecution and witnesses repeatedly mentioned that the site was used for child sex trafficking.

The Federal Government is reportedly “ramping up” its investigation into individuals who are making threats against election officials. The FBI and the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section are reaching out to officials who have been receiving credible violent threats from individuals regarding the 2020 election.

The Department of Justice has announced a civil rights investigation into the conditions facing inmates in Georgia’s prison system. Each of the three U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Georgia, for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts, are involved in the statewide investigation along with the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ. They will also be working with the State of Georgia and its Department of Corrections to determine whether inmates’ rights have been violated due to the conditions of their confinement.

The Department of Justice has announced a new written policy prohibiting the use of “chokeholds” and “carotid restraints,” a method of knocking out a detainee by restricting blood flow to their brain, unless an officer is authorized to use deadly force. The DOJ also announced a new policy limiting the use of “no-knock” warrants and entries. The policies will be applied across the entire Department of Justice and its sub-agencies.

According to the New York Times, the Biden administration is considering allowing certain inmates on CARES Act home confinement to remain free if they have a prior conviction for a nonviolent drug offense and have less than four years on their sentence. As things stand, any other type of inmate on home confinement will have to report back to prison when the pandemic ends.

A study recently released by NACDL has revealed the government’s failure to effectively administer the “S Visa” program, which gives non-citizens legal status in exchange for their cooperation in criminal or terrorism-related cases. While 200 criminal informants can be granted an S visa each year, for example, only 16 were granted an S visa in 2018. The report details the bureaucratic obstacles facing S visa applicants and other aspects of the S visa program that make it inaccessible.

The Institute for Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity recently published a study regarding the effects of racial discrimination on sentencing in federal criminal cases. Unlike previous studies of this topic, however, this study includes a list of “the federal judges who exhibit the clearest evidence of racial discrimination.”

As reported by the New York Times, the Department of Justice recently determined that federal inmates on home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act must return to prison when the pandemic is over. Unless the DOJ changes its position, Congress will have to pass a law or the Biden administration will have to issue mass sentence commutations to avoid sending thousands of people back to prison after spendings months back in their communities.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia has issued a press release regarding the latest developments in some of its fraud cases involving COVID-19 relief funds. Our firm has also compiled a list of COVID-19 relief fraud cases from across the country with the kinds of charges and sentences in each case (link in the post).

The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently released statistics reflecting trends in federal prosecutions for marijuana trafficking. The stats reflect that, since 2016, the number of federal marijuana trafficking cases has significantly and consistently decreased. The stats also broke down the number of offenders in BOP custody for marijuana, how many received downward variances, and other trends.